Mia Liza A. Lustria, Ph.D.

Community engagement has been an integral part of my teaching, research and service philosophies since I began academic life in the Philippines in 1990. It is rooted in my training in development communication which is defined by one of my mentors, Nora C. Quebral, as "the art and science of human communication linked to a society's planned transformation from a state of poverty to one of dynamic socio-economic growth that makes for greater equity and the larger unfolding of individual potential."

Living in a developing country, where resources are few and problems arising from poverty and illiteracy are rife, provided an ideal arena for testing the tenets of engaged scholarship. Using participatory approaches, we've worked with native tribes to help preserve knowledge about indigenous crops, trained numerous local health educators on the merits of strategic family planning, helped local communities publish their own community newspapers, etc. Integral to this process was the ability to listen to the needs of the community, and work with gatekeepers and various stakeholders, in order to identify appropriate solutions to local problems -by involving the stakeholders in the process we've learned to propose solutions that have proven to be more sustainable in the long term. It is through these earlier influences that I learned that scholarship is more meaningful when it contributes to a common good.

I find the idea of engaged scholarship appealing and personally fulfilling and continually challenge myself to find ways to anchor my scholarly activities in the service of communities.